Tovo Infusions

 

When someplace is new it town, it gets me excited. When someplace is new in town that has a different cuisine that is not in town, I get super excited. When someplace is new in town claiming that it cooks chicken in a first-time-in-the-world method, then, well, that has not happened in Chennai town, so I didn't know how to react to it. Actually, I did know. I had to visit it asap! And then I got an opinion from a friend. And to contest that opinion, I went again, this time with two other foodies. My opinion didn't change, their opinions were the same as mine and the friends opinion was his.

So they infuse the chicken. Period. What's so special?

Problem is that the what you get on your plate is entirely your fault. OK, bad choice of words. What you get on the plate is entirely your choice. OK, not good enough. What you get on the plate is what you were destined to get. Hmmmm...nope. OK, there are so many ways to get the chicken that the choice may be good, if you get it right and bad if you get it wrong. I am not going to try to get that words right, again.

So my first visit. Friday evening. Two of us. Packed restaurant. 5 minutes wait to get seated. I order. Grilled chicken. Chicken burger. Simple, isn't it?

'How would you like your chicken?'

'What?' Isn't that question asked for beef and in some fine dines, for fish and lamb? I've never heard that question for chicken.

'Sir, you need to choose the marinade.'

'OK. What's good?'

'They are all different, sir.'

I looked at the four choices. Waiter thought I was deciding. I was doing a inky-pinky-ponky. This happened to the stuffing too. And then the spice levels. Then the same cycle repeat for the burger. I mean for the burger too? Yeah, for the burger too! Just to see if I can order something in one word, I asked for a rice crepe (also called as DOSA). Spicy. That was a one word order. Only the chicken ordering is essay writing. Sorry, essay reciting.

So ordering took longer than the food. Not. But it felt that way. The chicken landed first. And disappeared first. The dosa came in, spiced like Andhra was on fire! Ate the whole thing. Super spicy, but super tasty spicy. It was like addiction. I know my stomach was crying, but the tongue was crying and craving! I loved it. And I hate spicy food, so that was something. And then the burger arrived. I checked if that was a double burger? Or jumbo burger? Or jumbo jumbo burger? Apparently not. That was the regular burger with boneless chicken inside. Huge. Juicy. Soft. Yummy.

Bill was Rs. 750 something. That was round 1. Opinion round was from a friend. He hated it. He hated the flavours and he said he chose 'safe' flavours. Round 2 was with the foodies, a week later on a Tuesday evening. Packed restaurant. One large round table for 6 was free. 3 foodies. One 8 feet tall. One 8 feet wide. One normal size. So I presumed we looked like six, so we were given the table. OK,  we took that table and seated ourselves. Ordered the exact same thing as I ordered the previous time. A small part of the chicken was undercooked. Left that part aside and pounded on the rest. Burger was praised like crazy.

So there you go. The only place I've come across asking me how I'd like my chicken. What you get on the plate is what you decided to get on the plate. Good luck.